West Baltimore’s ‘Enough is Enough’ Anti-Crime Rallies Wrap Up

“Enough is Enough!” has been the chant from marchers in West Baltimore every Friday night since April and, while the scheduled walks against violence came to an end Sept. 27, the anti-crime battle by police and community leaders is gaining momentum, according to City Councilman Nick Mosby (D-7th District).

Mosby and his team of community leaders and local residents covered several blocks Sept. 27, starting at N. Bentalou and Baker Streets, in West Baltimore on the final planned walk in an area that has been labeled by police and residents as crime-ridden.

“I was receiving calls from women who lived there for twenty, thirty years how they were scared to sit on their porch,” Mosby told the AFRO “There were single mothers saying they were scared to send their children to school.”

The walks, which began in April at Fulton and North Avenues, were cheered by residents who said they are tired of living in an area flooded with crime.

Jackie B., a West Baltimore resident said she’s been living in the 1800 block of Bentlou Street for more than 30 years. “The community is going down hill.”

“I think it’s a great thing, what the councilman is trying to do,” she told the AFRO. “It’s going to take a lot. It’s going to take a whole community.”

The walks started during a spring surge in violent crime in West Baltimore, Mosby told the AFRO. “Violent crime was picking up,” he said. “It was all over the media.”

“I felt helpless,” he said.

The walks were initially planned for a seven-week period but, Mosby said, the response was so tremendous – crowds of up to 200 residents were frequent, he said-that the walks were extended through the summer.